Tara Davis-Woodhall, a U.S. long jumper, was banned for one month and stripped of her indoor national championship after testing positive for THC.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued the penalties Tuesday, retroactive to a Feb. 17 adverse test. Davis-Woodhall won the indoor national championships in Albuquerque with a 6.99-meter long jump.
USADA said Davis-Woodhall's sample "tested positive for 11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (Carboxy-THC)... above the urinary Decision Limit of 180 ng/mL/."
Davis-Woodhall served the March 21 suspension. USADA said that she received the minimal punishment since her cannabis usage was not competition-related and she completed a drug addiction treatment.
"Davis-Woodhall’s period of ineligibility was reduced to one month because her use of cannabis occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance,
and because she successfully completed a substance abuse treatment program regarding her use of cannabis," USADA noted.
The decreased penalty did not salvage her national crown. USADA declared Davis-Woodhall "disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to February 17, 2023...
Davis-Woodhall's punishment follows sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson's 2021 Olympic ban for a positive test. Her punishment highlighted questions,
about why athletes are still penalized for a substance that has been decriminalized in the U.S. and doesn't improve performance.
"USADA has advocated and will continue to advocate to WADA, the rulemaker, to treat marijuana in a fairer and more effective way to identify true in-competition use," the statement adds.
Davis-Woodhall hadn't tweeted about the punishment since it was revealed as of Tuesday evening. USADA said she "accepted a one-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation."